Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006

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The Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006 is a Scottish law that modernises how Scotland handles human tissue. It became law on 16 March 2006 and updates older rules to set clear, ethical standards for removing, keeping, and using human tissue.

What the Act covers
- Three main uses of human tissue: donation (primarily for transplantation, but also for research, education or training, and audits); the removal, storage, and use of tissue after a post-mortem; and regulated use in anatomical examination and display.
- It introduces the idea of authorisation (similar to consent) to respect a person’s wishes about how their body or body parts are used after death.

How it works in practice
- The law takes a different approach from the rest of the United Kingdom, which uses the Human Tissue Act 2004.
- Universities in Scotland may keep a whole body for up to three years; they can keep body parts longer if the donor or their family consents.

Opting out of organ donation
- In 2017, Scotland announced plans to create an opt-out system to increase organ donation.
- This was brought in by the Human Tissue (Authorisation) (Scotland) Act 2019 and began on 26 March 2021. It creates a deemed authorisation system: adults are presumed to have agreed to donate their organs and tissue unless they have explicitly opted out.
- Healthcare professionals must make reasonable efforts to determine the deceased’s wishes before proceeding.

Overall, the Act aims to respect individuals’ wishes, provide clear rules for handling tissue, and improve organ donation rates through a system of presumed consent.